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Hamburg in the Time of Corona: Part 2

So, here I am, set to do home office for two weeks. This morning the sun was shining and spring was clearly in the air. I felt warm during my walk to work, encouraged by my slightly heavier backpack, which I’d loaded with extra snacks and my own bowl for having soup in, some other necessities that seemed sensible in these times. The irony is that a few hours later I was walking back home in the now brilliant spring sunshine, additionally loaded down with stuff from my office desk.

I wasn’t the only one, of course. The development wasn’t entirely unexpected, considering what’s been happening in other European countries, and in Germany, stacking up day after day. It’s just we still didn’t know when exactly and if we’d have to switch our work MO around. That walk on Monday morning already felt a bit surreal, even as I was telling myself I’d be doing that regularly instead of taking the bus or the train, get fit for spring and all that stuff. And then later it was still strange, this joint effort made by many, but leading to this period of careful self-isolation.

What truly moves me, of course, is how people around me have been handling the situation in recent weeks. With calm honesty, humor and the ever-present German efficiency. No fuss, no hysteria, no blame. And no matter how many times it’s repeated, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the simple kindness of that phrase, “Stay safe and healthy.”

Now I’m one of those people reading articles online about how to not go crazy while working from home. In addition to that, I do worry, because I care, as many others do: about loved ones, the future, being able to deliver in these new working conditions and not losing my grip on what I do outside of work hours. I think one of the hardest parts is trying to stay in the now in combination with the unavoidable thoughts about the next days, because the uncertainty is there. But so are the facts. And these are…